Bankapur Fort and Peacock Sanctuary

Bankapur fort as once a strong fortress with a large and deep ditch but either allowed to go to decay or demolished on several sides. The granite ramparts and gateways on one side were in good order; the rest was out of repair. One of the fort walls runs across the back of the Nagareshwar temple and is built on it.

Bankapur is a small town in Haveri district. The earliest known reference of Bankapur is found in a Kolhapur Jain manuscript, dated 898 CE, where it is mentioned that the great city of Bankapur was named after the Chellaketan chief Bankeyaras who was a feudatory of Rashtrakuta king Amoghavarsha-I.

Bankapur peacock sanctuary situated in Bankapur village of Shiggon taluk, is just 2.5 km from the NH-4, 22 km from Haveri town towards Hubli. This sanctuary is situated on 139 acres of land which has the remains of the historic Bankapura Fort

The peacock sanctuary in Bankapura is the only second sanctuary in the country that is exclusively engaged in the conservation and breeding of peacocks. Understanding the great presence of peacocks in the region, the Government of India declared Bankapura as a peacock sanctuary on June 9, 2006. Any visitor to this sanctuary will not return without seeing a flock of peacock, our national bird, happily dancing in the sprawling sanctuary, without a care in the world.

The high mound and deep trenches of the land have provided a perfect home for these birds. According to a rough estimate, there are more than 1,000 peacocks and peahen in the sanctuary. Also, minimal human intervention has helped in the breeding of these birds. They walk royally on the four km mound and also perch on green trees.

Bankapura Peacock Sanctuary is covered with Acacia, Neem and Ficus plants. Crops such as maize, Jowar and Horse gram are grown here. Many species of medicinal plants are found here. Known for having huge numbers of peacock and additionally birds like Woodpecker, babbler, extraordinary horned owl, jaybird, green-buzzing insect eater, robin and nightjar are seen here.

The officials of the Department of Veterinary Sciences have shown great interest in the conservation of these birds, making it easy for the Forest Department to carry on with their job. According to experts, Bankapur is considered to be a safe haven for pea fowls because of its topography.

The sanctuary is located on the cattle breeding farm which was set up in 1919 after the First World War. The farm is located in 90 acres out of the total 139 acres of the sanctuary.

There are a number of other birds like wood pecker, great-horned owl, babbler, magpie, robin, green bee-eater, nightjar, spotted maina, paradise flycatcher, Indian robin, spotted dove, parakeets, kingfisher, grey hornbill, blue tailed bee eater, blacked winged kite, tailor bird etc.  The fort also houses an animal farm for breeding cattle and rabbits.

A cluster of magnificent black-faced languor’s (monkeys) was seated on a path going to a large mud-rock mound that must have constituted a part of the fort wall in ancient times. Quite separated from them was another languor chewing meditatively on a cud. A little later, it was witched by my side in a few large steps with very impressive speed. It seemed to be six feet tall and gave me a feeling that he could easily have been a proud member of any army. The languors were everywhere and we must thank the forest department for not officially making it a languor sanctuary.

A trip to Hullumudi and Korathikallu Bare Mountain

Last weekend YHA-Udupi Unit organized two days trekking expedition all arrangements made by K S Adiga Sir, a well experienced member in our unit so we had no need to worry about anything, He did lot of preparations to run and things to get ready before do expedition and it was a disciplined and well set program by him. A small thirteen member’s team which is full of enthused and well experienced trekkers with mixed of men and women.

The first half of the day was simply we spent for journey by Saturday noon all we joined together at small town in Udupi and we would pick up Rajendra a local village member as guide and then head to his village. After a bumpy ride we ended our Jeep drive in small hamlet where our trek would be starts. It was a small village composed by only a few houses, in the village we would see the village life and we met Rajendr’s family members. We did finally start to hike it around 2PM all thirteen of us were then to hike Hullumudi Mountain.

It had been sunny all the day and we started to hike, but thunder clouds began rolling in, the hike was technically and physically difficult with steep, dry and thick tropical forest terrain hence devoid of harsh sun rays. The whole trek was made tricky, the fact that scarcity of water and most awful humidity. These jungles seemed to be fairly untouched by trekkers. There were also several large fallen trees to pass through.  It would be similar to whole hike for next 3 hours.

The terrain is spectacular with steep ridges covered in thickening forest in all directions.  This however brings me to the word of the day: uphill.  We began to climb, and climb, and climb in total the way was about 6kms of ascent we managed to hold long enough for us to make it to the Hullumudi top so all-in-all not a bad day of hiking though we were exhausted it was worth the effort after 4 hours of nonstop mounting.

We dropped our stuffs off and had some impressive views before it get dark. As we continued hiking to the end of the trail we were heading towards some ominous looking clouds. They offer some nice hiking and a relaxing setting.  Later we collected water from nearest small stream, Pitched tents in a safe place and grabbed some warm tuckers and relaxed for some better than expected food and a warm fire.  As night set in we gathered around the fire and swapped some thrilling ghost stories.

After a camp-fire we went to bed preparing for an early wake-up. I couldn’t  sleep properly on whole night because of some insect bite I suffered whole night from ruthless skin allergy. At one point I couldn’t also breathe  somehow I managed whole stuff absence of sleep.

After a horrible experience at night I woke up at early in the morning it’s an early morning in steamy we were able to catch the sunrise and we were greeted by brilliant colorful skies. We took a group photo and then were on our way for more photography with few expert colleagues. I figured I had to seize the opportunity and head back up the valley to get some pictures before breakfast. In the light we could see the stunning panorama of mountains we had walked down from the day before.

The morning light was sensational and the fine mist gave the morning a special glow.  I headed towards an eastern side valley view and got a good view of the Waterfalls in the light. The light continued to be amazing.  I hiked back up about 10 minutes through mix of Grassland and wild-dates (Eichala) forest the sun cast its stunning rays over the Wild Dates trees and dandelions making for fantastic photos. It was definitely a nice start to the day and really was worth waking up for.

We had special treat as Bisibelebath, made by Adiga Sir as lunch was wrapping up and freshened our souls with special Lemon Tea which done by  Gurudath Sir and we were readying our-self for next destiny point with new spirit. The sun created wonderful light on the diverse Wild-Dates forest flora with mist still fresh in the air somewhat cheerfully we headed from the camp, having to move the migration out of Korathikallu Bare.

We had some stunning views out over the valley we were heading towards southern valley.  We gathered ourselves and enjoyed the views out but acutely aware it was still quite a long way to go. After an hour walk we reached top of the Korathikallu Bare Mountain.

A couple of stunning views back down the valley we were headed to next level and spent on top for while and returned back to base through different route. We packed up and got a ride back to home we hiked down from Hullumudi towards the same downer route. We pressed on down the valley and were rewarded with stunning views of the steep walled canyons and ridges flaking off the sides of the large peaks nearby.

Overall there is no denying the beauty of the Hullumudi.  The grassland forests are incredible, and the rolling hills never seem to end. It made for some incredible scenery with the swirling cloud. The bus ride to home was much less comfortable but across the journey the incredible beauty of Hullumudi was swirling on my mind.